India's Yes Bank drops as three-year share lock-in period ends

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Shares of India's Yes Bank Ltd fell as much as 12.7% to a seven-month low on Monday at the end of a three-year lock-in period that barred investors from selling stock they had acquired as part of the lender's restructuring.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had required Yes Bank's shareholders, which includes the State Bank of India (SBI) and other private lenders, to hold on to 75% of the shares acquired as part of the restructuring in March 2020.

Yes Bank shares have fallen by more than 50% since the restructuring, including about 20% this year after the lender reported a surprise 80% drop in quarterly profit in January.

At its lowest on Monday, Yes Bank's shares registered their biggest intraday percentage decline in nearly three years, before recovering to trade 3.3% lower at 15.95 rupees.

SBI - Yes Bank's biggest shareholder with a 26.14% stake in Yes Bank as of Dec. 31, as per regulatory data - and other lenders had acquired the bank's shares for 10 rupees apiece in March 2020.

ICICI Bank Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd, IDFC First Bank Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Housing Development Finance Corp and state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India hold stakes of 1% to 4.34% in Yes Bank.

The mean recommendation of the 14 analysts covering Yes Bank shares is "sell", while their median price target is 15 rupees, according to data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Varun H K)